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Advisory Council issues model order on excess claims and prior art

The Federal Circuit Advisory Council on July 22, 2013, issued a model order to address excessive patent claims and prior art references in patent cases.

While not currently available on the Federal Circuit’s Website and lacking binding authority, the order provides guidance to trial courts by establishing default numerical limits for patent litigants on the number of preliminary elections of asserted patent claims and prior art references— 10 claims from each patent and not more than 32 claims; 12 prior art references and not more than 40 references. It would also limit final elections to five asserted claims per patent from among the 10 previously identified claims, with no more than 16 claims total, and six asserted prior art references per patent from among the 12 previously identified art references, with no more than a total of 20 references. The limits can be modified “for good cause shown” by the parties.

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